New Zealand

Arrived in Auckland at around 6:00 pm. The first thing that I did before clearing Customs was to make another report about my luggage that had gone missing. The woman here was very helpful, and said that they had not opened a file when I reported it missing in Nadi. I didn't have contact details, so I said I would call when I knew where we were staying. Paula and the kids were nowhere to be seen. I waited a while because that was our arrangement, and then decided to check my email. I tried to connect to the airport hotspot, but this kept timing out, so I went to the Airport Help Desk. They pointed out a booth that had free internet access, so I waited for a vacant terminal.

They had left a message that they had booked in to a motel near the airport that had a free shuttle service. I rang the phone number and was told to wait at Gate 9 for a pick-up in about 10 minutes. I was picked up and driven to the motel which is quite a few kilometers away from the airport. I was still missing a bag that had gone astray somewhere between Los Angeles and Fiji. so I called the airport with the motel contact details.

When I came through the airport duty free section I wondered whether to buy any drinks. The limits into New Zealand are 3 bottles of spirits and 6 bottles of wine per person. In the end I decided to get a special, 2 bottles of spirits for NZ$59. When I got to the motel I found out that Paula had also bought some. They had 2 bottles of spirits and 6 bottles of wine. Paula had read in a brochure on the plane that Bridget as a 17 year old, accompanied by and adult would also have been able to bring in the same allowance. Between them they could have brought in 12 bottles of wine and 9 litres of spirits.

The phone rang at about 10:00 pm and the front desk had recieved a call that my bag had been located and had been sent straight on to Auckland and would be delivered in about half an hour. It arrived by taxi at about 11:00 pm.

Today we are sitting in the motel looking for somewhere to store some of our luggage until we leave on Jan 21. We don't need to carry 2 siutcases and a carry-on bag each with us all over NZ.